COLUMNS

Karon Argue lives in High River, in the western prairie province of Alberta.

She says she’s been drawing ever since she can remember, and as a graphic artist and illustrator, always has a pencil in hand and images in her mind.

She is known primarily now as an illustrator of children’s books, but unlike many artists who draw simple images for childrens books, her work although light and whimsical, is also highly detailed. Karon says that’s become a bit of a trademark.

Welcome to another edition of our arts report. This time around, we continue with coverage of non-fiction literature. I had the good fortune to read this new work by Canadian Shereen El Feki.

It's called "Sex and the Citadel- intimate life in a changing Arab world". It is a most interesting examination of the attitudes toward sex in muslim countries, and she also has no fear of the occasion use of explicit words.

Ms El Feki was able to use both her muslim heritage, and her western looks to her advantage to get people's most intimate thoughts about sex, marriage, and society, at times raw, and at times its also humourous. And whether you agreew with them or not, it's also a way to better understand at least some of the issues in Islam and living both within the "citadel" of sanctioned marriage, and the conerns of being on the outside.

(RCI) Host Marc Montgomery with Shereen El Feki and her non-fiction book Sex and the Citadel

I found it a fascinating read, and Ms El Feki an equally interesting guest. I hope you will enjoy listening, and I also have one copy of the book to give away if you listen to the interview for details.
Cheers
Marc

The history of gangs in Vancouver, and the rise of modern crime, especially three brothers who came from a privileged life

Today on our arts segment, I speak to Canadian non-fiction author Jerry Langton. His new book is just out, and once again, he takes certain risks to get into the crime scene in one of Canada's major cities. This time around its a look at the gangs and drug wars in the port city of Vancouver.

With some background on the development of gangs and criminal activity going back over one hundred years, Jerry Langton then begins to focus on a new type of criminal and gang operation. Unlike the generally held theory and situation, the Bacon brothers came not from an underprivileged background and a hard life, on the wrong side of the tracks, but rather from the right side of the track and a life of relative ease.(L-R) Marc Montgomery speaking with author Jerry Langton

The book makes for some interesting reading, and I hope you enjoy our conversation. I also have a coy to give away. Listen to the interview for the details, and I do also like to get your comments.
Marc

It seems that more and more, people love dogs. They're great companions people will say.

As lifestyles change across the continent, there appears to be a growing need for that companionship. Adult children often have to move far away from parents, leaving an empty nest and a gap that older folks want to fill.

People are getting married later, there are more divorces and so more single people. Some married couples choose not to have children and buy dogs which become surrogate children. So it seems in many cases, people are buying dogs to fill in that lonliness gap.

There are now dog hotels, and companies that create dog birthday parties, and an unimaginable array of toys and accesories. But dog ownership is not without its crises, some dog-made, some, perhaps more because of their owners...and then there are conflicts with non-dog owners.

Bountiful films of Vancouver has looked into the culture of dog ownership in North America, and produced a film documentary called Dog Dazed.

RCI's Marc Montgomery speaks with Director and writer, Helen Slinger, who along with Maureen Palmer, is also co-producer.

(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)Stompin' Tom Connors performs at Live from Rideau Hall, a concert held at Rideau Hall in Ottawa Sunday, June 16, 2002

This week on the programme, a look at one of Canada's best loved singer-songwriters.

Tom Connors died this week of natural causes at age 77. After a hard start to life, and almost at the bottom, he got a strange break..a chance to sing for his beer. From there he went on to write songs about working Canadians, their lives, the towns and the cities they knew.

For many, this "Canadianism" was something that had long been lacking. Although the music industry and media, marginalized him, he slowly became the people's hero.

This week, some of his songs, and a conversation with country singer Tim Hus, who was the last performer to go on a coast to coast tour with Stompin Tom Connors.

I hope you enjoy the show, and as always, I welcome your comments. There are a few photos if you click on "More"

In fact imagine if you had no experience in it all, just a lot of guts, and some credit cards.

That's pretty much the experience of Shauna de Cartier. She walked away from a succesful career and future in corporate marketing, and decided to get into the music business, managing a band...then form a record label.

Now with a business partner and a couple of employees, the company has been established for over a decade and doing very well. They have several performers under contract, and also manage them and promote concerts, and publish music... Whew !

(Blog TO) Shauna de Cartier founder and president of Six Shooter Records, Toronto.

I hope you enjoy listening to my conversation with Shauna de Cartier.
As always your comments are more than welcome

While it is a business, it has both an artistic aspect to it and a bit of culture and tradition too…indeed amercian country singer Leroy van dyke had a big hit back in 1956 with his song about …the auctioneer.

Auctioneering is a skill and talent that involves linguistic clarity combined with speed, personality, a bit of psychology and a little humour also can help.

On this editions, we’ll meet the owner of Doug Johnson Auction Service Litd. Mr. Johnson works out of the town of Camrose Alberta in western Canada.

His work involves mostly farm auctions selling equipment. But this year, he entered the All-around Auctioneering championships for the first time…and won

So on today's edition, we meet the All-around auction champ, and also get to hear a little bit of him in action as we learn about the art of auctineering.

This week our spotlight turns to non-fiction. We meet award-winning Canadian author Carl Honore. He recently authored the highly successful book, In Praise of Slow, and he's back with The Slow Fix. It has as a subtitle, Solve problems, work smarter and live better.

In this latest book, he shows why our constant efforts to find quick solutions to problems big and small, is very often not a good idea at all, with the problems coming back time and again. He suggests taking a slow and careful look at issues and problems, seek advice and through careful consideration actually find the best solution to each concern.
(Carl Honore vid grab from interview on his website)

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Mr Honore...and I have a copy of his book The Slow Fix, to give a way. simply listen at the end of our conversation for a chance to win this book.
Cheers
MarcCarl Honore website

(Opera in Space)A scene from the production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas

This, week we phone London England, where a Canadian has created a unique opera company. It's calle Opera in Space and the company takes classical operas, pares them down and performs them in unusual locations, such as castles, or warehouses, and takes advantage of the physical space to create added ambience for the audience which remains in close proximity to the players.

This week, a conversation with a well-known singer and song writer on the Canadian folk scene, James Gordon. Many might know him as the founder of one of Canada's best known and loved folk ensembles, Tamarack. But in recent years he's gone out on his own exploring musical alternatives, pushing the boundaries slightly of the typical folk genre.

He's even done some recording with his two sons, both of whom are doing quite well as musicians and performers in their own rights, but on the Indie music scene.

(Cover of James Gordon's new album Coyote's Calling)

His newest album has just come out- Coyote's Calling. In the conversation he talks about the new album, his inspirations, how the music scene has changed over the years, Tamarack, social concerns and future projects, which may include politics.

Less than 24 hours after Montreal police arrested 279 student protesters upset with tuition hikes, demonstrators gathered in a downtown park on Saturday for a different--and less angry--manifestation. [...]